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Saturday, 31 March 2012

Bookending the Color Me Psycho LP is this second 7" single from Forbidden Dimension, also on Raging Records. Actually, we're not sure that Raging Records did anything beyond FD, Color Me Pyscho and what appears to be their final release, the Enemy Mind Feel single.

Regardless, we're appreciative of this effort - rather than the drum machine action of their first single, this features a full band. This is likely the same configuration that shows up on this 1989 live set, and it's remarkable. "Lucifer Brain" is probably one of our favourite FD tracks. But then, we have about 30 favourite FD tracks. Anyways, here's a great review of the single from VOX:

And, to add to the fun, a really quick promo from the Herald prior to the release of this single:

That first clipping reminds us, we don't acknowledge the contributions of Wes Hegg enough here. But that's for another day. For today, we're going to stay on task.

Friday, 30 March 2012

We're digging into some more vinyl from the 80's, with the first official release on Raging Records. By the time Colour Me Psycho's Pretend I'm Your Father was released, the band was basically over - which may explain the less-than-great mastering. It certainly explains why this release snuck ahead of the Colour Me Psycho LP - by this time, FD was Tom Bagley's main focus.

This is early Jackson Phibes vs. Drum Machine basement stuff, and remarkably several of these songs are still part of the current incarnation of FD's set.

These songs show up on the Forbidden Dimension anthology A Coffinful of Crows (2000) which may still be available here. If it's not, you can get the single here.

Thursday, 29 March 2012

We're going to clear through a few posts that Golden Rock had queued up, but never quite got polished enough to post. And what better place to start than this? Well, maybe something new that you haven't heard before, but clearly that's not how we're rolling today.

Wednesday, 28 March 2012

Some more 12" vinyl from the Golden Rock archives for you this afternoon. Rip Chords reunited a few years back for the amazing CSW 25th Anniversary party at Mac Hall.

Drummer Peter Moller has put together a bio as well as two CDs worth of unreleased Rip Chords tracks on his website. Here's what he has to say about the band:

Rip Chords existed from 1979-1985 during the heyday of Calgary’s punk-influenced music scene. They were birthed by Rodney (Max) Brisson and Adele Leger. Peter Clarke, Fred Holliss, Paul Lukeman, and Kim Solar played with Max and Adele in early versions of the band. With the inevitable partner swapping that any such musical scene inspires, the line up eventually solidified with Max on guitar, Adele handling the lead vocals, Kevin Labchuk on keyboards, Richard McDowell on bass, and Peter Moller on drums.

It seemed an ideal time to get with the Sex Pistols-inspired global movement of musical rebellion that often took the form of drinking and drugging oneself into a state of, at worst, self denial or, at best, creative exploration.

Calgary’s economic bust of the early 80s seemingly bestowed the Calgary arts and music scene with golden opportunities. The combination of disaffected youth, cheap rent, and the feeling of ‘anything goes’ propelled many toward an inspired DIY ethic.

In 1982 Richard McDowell created and opened a club in Calgary called 10 Foot Henry’s. This tiny space (which today exists as a transmitter station buried under the LRT tracks at 10th Street and 6th Avenue SW) ran until 1985 and became a nexus for the burgeoning Calgary music scene. It was also a stopping off point for hundreds of musicians touring the circuit that the Rheostatics Dave Bidini captured so brilliantly in his book On A Cold Dark Road.

As McDowell was the bass player for the Rip Chords, the club became the Rip Chords defacto rehearsal space. Many of the recordings on these discs are from Henry’s. Dennis Burton, one of the founders of Radio Cora (eventually renamed Radio Radio, and still broadcasting today) is responsible for spearheading this Byzantine compilation. In their time the Rip Chords produced three vinyl records and hundreds of hours of live gig recordings. Burton subjected himself to an inordinate amount of work by compiling and then yanking these tunes out of their magnetic tape dungeon, freeing them into the light of the digital realm; a truly difficult journey due in no small part to the ephemeral nature of magnetic tape. Often when played back, after years of being stored in basements and garages, some of the tapes produced no sound. The solution? Put the old tapes into an oven and bake them at a prescribed temperature for a certain amount of time and... poof! The sound magically returned. What else would you expect?

These tunes represent a certain time in our lives. It was a crucible that produced many fine bands; The Verdix, The Breeders, The Golden Calgarians, The R&B Keepers, Ohama, Same Difference, The Church of Doug, The Mules… and, obviously, many more. I’ll wager that there’s some recipe or equation to be realised from it all. Mix bored youth, hormones, right-wing politics, left-wing reactionism, drug and alcohol (ab)use, stir vigorously with righteous indignation and voila! A musical-multi-car mishap on the #2. A beautiful and gnarly result.

Did we learn anything? Erhm... probably not much, but we had a qualified amount of blurry-eyed fun doing it.

What surprises us here is the comment about three Rip Chords records. This is the only one we've ever seen... if any one has info about the others, can you get in touch with us? Also, we're still looking for anything by the Breeders.

Files courtesy of David Veitch, who devoted much ink to the Calgary scene during his years as the Calgary Sun music scribe--thanks very much, sir!

Tuesday, 27 March 2012

We're closing in on the end of the Golden Rock archives with another one from Ken Kittlitz's '86 mix tape (and re-mastered by Cheeba). Rain for a Day were CJSW staples back in the day, but we're at a loss for info about this one. Was it from a cassette? Who was in the band? What year is this from? Is the title even correct? (It might be "Omi's Secret Wedding.") If anyone can shed some light on this track, please e-mail us at hamfisted[at]gmail[dot]com.

Update! Pat McGannon got in touch with us, and offers a whole bunch of answers to the questions we asked.

Was it from a cassette?Yes this track is from a cassette recording. It was made in the drummer’s (Jason Rubero) basement in Braeside (located in SW Calgary). The recording was done on a reel-to-reel four track recorder and mixed to a cassette deck. It’s pretty raw but that’s what we had to work with back in those days. This track has no bass guitar on it, the low end is a string patch on a Roland JUNO 106. I still have the same keyboard and use it live on shows today. The original recording features an intro that’s about 1:30 long. We cut it out for the CJSW cart as I think it was going to be too long to fit on the cart. We were also fearful CJSW would not play a long synth track that was clocking in at over 5 minutes long!

Thursday, 22 March 2012

This shot glass (7cm tall, 5cm diameter) was given away during the grand opening of Club Notes: Wednesday, January 15 to Saturday, January 18, 1986. The club was located in the old Airliner Inn (4804 Edmonton Trail NE), which became a Travelodge circa ’89 and later (and still?) a Quality Hotel.Featured bands: Skinny Puppy, NEOA 4 and (from Calgary) the Ripchords and Eden's End. (Shooter is clear, uncoloured glass; for the photo, milk was added to boost contrast on the lettering, although we doubt much milk was consumed at Club Notes.)In the Friday, January 17, 1986 Calgary Herald, James Muretich (RIP) did a little pulse-taking halfway through Club Notes’ opening, and the local talent earned kinder words than the out-of-town headliners:

Headline act drags down new nightspot's opening
By James Muretich
(Herald staff writer)
Calgary's latest nightspot entry into the rock 'n' roll sweepstakes, Club Notes, opened its doors Wednesday to mixed reviews from first-night patrons.
The negative remarks had little to do with the room itself and dealt mostly with the music.
The headlining act, Vancouver's Skinny Puppy, certainly was a curiosity but its Gothic-rock also was a big bore. Dried ice, black clothing and a singer with a fixation with Joy Division, Bauhaus and Alien Sex Fiend's ghoulish stage presence does not an exciting act make.
Skinny Puppy should've listened to the Bauhaus song: Bela Lugosi is dead. So quit trying to revive him.
Local band Eden's End is a young group that is guitar-oreinted and R.E.M.-influenced. At this point, the band is rough around the edges and its stage personality is nonexistent.
However, Eden's End is very young and at least it's moving in the right direction.
Some critics (isn't everyone a critic?) felt the room was unimpressive, but some of the best clubs in Canadian history (Toronto's El Mocambo, Montreal's Rising Sun) were not architectural wonders.
Club Notes is a good, large room with a spacious dance floor. The decor is typical tavern, but who cares? The bottom line is the music.
And Club Note's ability to draw people to its northeast location will come down to the quality of acts it brings to town. Booking agent Dean Bertsch is on the right track by looking at what is commonly called more alternate rock acts. What Calgary doesn't need is a top-40 bar.
There is talk of John Cale returning and performing at Club Notes as well as Tupelo Chainsex, which was a big hit at the National Hotel last year.
If Club Notes brings in good bands, it will succeed.
Tonight The Rip Chords entertain and NEO-A4 performs Saturday. Next week promises to be a good one with Toronto reggae band The Sattalites at Club Notes Jan. 22-23 and Vancouver's Moev there Jan. 24-25.

Eden's End singer/bassist Jack Goodwin wrote in to share a recording ("A Dream") from that historic evening and a photo of the band taken at the club (from left: Jack, guitarist Byron Norton, drummer Clayton Dickson). Eden's End are still going (Jack's the only original member) although, he notes, "the only room we rock these days is in our guitarist's basement in Sunnyside."

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

A while back we asked if anyone knew what became of Skali, the Liquid Light frontman. Well, Scott Kelly ("Skali was just a nickname, like a slurred 'S.Kelly'") wrote in to say he's alive, well, and still making music--some old Liquid Light lyrics and riffs even show up on his two recent solo CDs. Scott's also a visual artist and radio host. He very kindly sent in this track, recorded at Liquid Light's final gig, at the York Hotel* in either 1988 or '89. Oh, he also mentioned that he tried an LL reunion in 2004--there's a clip here.

Tuesday, 20 March 2012

We're going back to the tapes, but this time for a genre that we rarely feature, but one that's timely with yesterday's announcement of our city's first Poet Laureate. Poetry is a bit of a change of pace for us, but Kirk Miles makes the cut because: (a) His cassette was put out by Syntax, who also released music by Big Dog and the Rip Chords and (b) It's a good example of the artistic cross-pollination (e.g., poets doing readings in punk venues) that made Calgary's '80s scene so vibrant. Heck, not only is Miles' old theatre outfit, One Yellow Rabbit, still going strong, they've even got the original Ten Foot Henry plywood cut-out in their performance space!

Speaking of Henry's, here is a photo of Kirk we stole from the Ten Foot Henry's Facebook group:

And, of course, here is Golden Rock's age old transcription of the liner notes:

On a Whimsically Adulterous Night with Batman's Wife
Two Deaths of a Shark
Three Handy Recipes for Summoning up from the Deep
Catwoman Meets Sid Vicious
When the Xenonman
Supergirl in the Blossom Factory

Kirk Miles lives in Calgary.
He was a founding director of One Yellow Rabbit Performance Troupe and has written several productions for the company.
He is currently working on a children's novel.
Some poems originally published in Last Issue Magazine, Winter 1987.
Illustrations by Wendy Toogood.

Saturday, 17 March 2012

This is the third 12" from Ohama. Thanks to Golden Rock for transcribing the liner notes - there's some amazing insight into Tona Walt Ohama's heritage in here.

Side One

Midway

Side Two

Thin Lines
And Without a Word

Side One produced by Avery Tanner for Mass Production
Side Two produced by Ohama
Dennis Marcenko: bass guitar, programming
Dick Motokado: Japanese-English vocals*
Avery Tanner: drum programming
Mia Blackwell: backing vocals
Eric D. Hoffaby: conga program
Performed, recorded and mixed on The Potatoe Farm

We're all connected by thin lines
We're only drifting...
Do we exist?
I'm only a shadow of reality...

*In 1941 Dick Motokado was 13 years old. On March 5, 1942 the B.C. Security Commission gave his family 48 hours to move from their home on Vancouver Island. They were allowed to take two suitcases and a clothes bag each. The rest of their property was confiscated and sold. Mr. Motokado went from Vancouver Island to the Hastings Park Livestock Building and then to the relocation camp Tashme. He spent four years there with 2,500 to 4,000 other Japanese Canadians...

The registration card on the front cover is from the 1940's and belongs to Tona Ohama, Senior...

Handmade paper & print by Linda Ohama
All selections written by Tona W. Ohama
Published by Midnite News Music (PROC)

Friday, 16 March 2012

This EP appears to recompile a few of the tracks from Ohama's Midnite News cassette into a vinyl format. Which we have absolutely no problem with, as it gives us another excuse to listen to the very, very excellent track "Julie is a TV Set"

Thursday, 15 March 2012

We're sometimes boggled by the quality of stuff that comes out of our fair city, and this LP - heck, anything by Ohama - is one of those cases. Tona Walt Ohama self-released a series of amazing electronica records in the 80's. Weird Canada did an excellent write up of this earlier this year:

A familiar scene: a young dreamer alone in his parent’s basement makes music to escape loneliness and boredom. Now, the unusual thing about this scene is that this basement is filled with state-of-the-art (for 1984) home-recording equipment and synthesizers and is located in rural Alberta surrounded by endless potato fields, miles from anything remotely metropolitan. For the young Tona Walt Ohama, the major portals to the world-at-large from his isolated farm were through television, radio and records. A well-rounded diet of classical, rock, prog and most importantly New Wavers like Gary Numan & John Foxx gave Ohama the vocabulary he needed to beam beautiful analog messages from his farm to the greater world. I Fear What I Might Hear, Ohama’s first album proper, is a masterpiece of modern folk-form, perfectly capturing the Canadian cultural climate of the early eighties and its effect on a sensitive young mind. I Fear is at once as introspective and pastoral as Nick Drake, but rather than evoking acoustic images of Camus and moody English moors it speaks of McLuhan and a plugged-in landscape that is equal parts muddy toil and media spoil. The LP works effectively as a cohesive document partly because the existential themes of isolation, identity and cultural decay are explored as lyrical subject-matter throughout, but also because the songs are all stitched together using a concrete pastiche of sounds that ranges from idyllic & rustic (animals & water) to industrial & urban (engines & TV). Truly, this is a prescient letter of distress and dislocation revealing the disappearance of a dichotomy, where it doesn’t matter where you live, Google will find you. Don’t be afraid though, it’s a great comfort to know that Ohama’s clear and visionary voice is out there in the Great Wide Aether.

Monday, 12 March 2012

This is another 7" from the Frank Lockwood vaults. "This proved to be the band's swansong, and was recorded at Sundae," Frank writes. "I remember recording this song with Pat in the studio, and her six month old son fretting in the musicians lounge, outside of the control room. I was having trouble getting the vocal quality I wanted from Pat, until I encouraged her to 'sing it like a lullaby' to calm her fussy baby. This worked like a charm, providing both the vocal that soothed the infant, and crowned this gentle Christmas hymn, closing the door on CosmaNat's recording career forever."

Thanks to Frank and Pat Tufts and Brenda Bowes for sharing the music. Get the single here.

Sunday, 11 March 2012

This 7" comes courtesy of Mr. Frank Lockwood, and is posted with the blessings of Brenda Bowes and Pat Tufts. We got in touch with Frank to solve a mystery surrounding a Tau Ceti video clip, and he generously hepped us to CosmaNat, "a band that became important to me during that period."

Frank writes: "Our first production was a 7-inch vinyl single, the upbeat 'Camping Song' backed with the dirge-like 'Little Things.' I remember Pat and Brenda showing up wearing shorts for the session where we recorded the thigh slaps that provide most of the rhythmic drive for 'Camping Song.' 'Little Things' is a painful lament of some undefined loss, which also featured a lot of what were to become my primary contributions to the CosmaNat sound: echoed guitar lines, multiple vocal harmonies, and spacious reverberation."

Little Things (B.Bowes)

Camping Song (B.Bowes/P.Tufts/K.Pack)

CosmaNat is Brenda Bowes and Pat M. Tufts
Produced by CosmaNat and Frank Lockwood
Engineered by Frank Lockwood
Recorded at The Sundae Sound Studio, Calgary, Canada, in the Spring of '86
Thank you C.H., L.A., and K.L. for unending truth.
There is no silence in our attention. So much for resting.

Saturday, 10 March 2012

A tape! For reals! Hooray! This will allow us to keep our marginal hold on the Cassette part of our name for at least another month.

A ways back, we posted a CosmaNat tape. This is another, which comes from Frank Lockwood via Golden Rock. This is a one-track single (hence why this post is titled "The Find" cassette single), and predates Lockwood's work with the band.

Cosmanat Is:
Brenda Bowes
Guitars Percussion Bass Violin Linn Drums

Pat M. Tufts
Vocals Synthesizer

Recorded at Sundae Sound, Calgary Spring 1985
Engineer Robert Bartlett
Thanks to: Kevin (for photos and stuff), Robin, Robert, C.H., L.A., and K.L.
Written, performed and produced by CosmaNat

Thursday, 8 March 2012

The Funeral Factory have always been a popular band among readers here at the CCPS, so we're pleased to bring you their 12" via Golden Rock.

Golden Rock reader kpod also sent along a shot of a series of one-inch promotional pins produced by the Small Horse, Big Apple label. Clockwise, from top: Tau Ceti, Funeral Factory, and the logo for Tau Ceti's "Radiation II" single.

Here's Golden Rock's transcription of the liner notes:

WhitesideCarousel Of Lies
People Need
So Elvis

DarcsideHeartbreak Hotel
Purpose Extinct

Religion Darc: guitars and vocals
Religion White: keyboards and vocals
Produced by Mike Bezzeg
Engineered by Richard Harrow
Recorded at The Living Room, September-October 1986
Mixed by Harrow-Bezzeg-TFF

James Muretich and Religion White (Mary-Lynn Wardle) were close friends, part of why Mary-Lynn ended up lending us a box of James' newspaper clippings. And also why James spend so much time covering the Funeral Factory:

Tuesday, 6 March 2012

Editor's Note: We've been rolling most of Golden Rock's non-music posts into posts about each band. However, there are some amazing pieces of history in the comments of this post that we believe need to be kept for future generations to scratch their heads at. So, as usual, we're breaking our own rules...

Barry Calnan, who drummed for Tau Ceti, dug up an old VHS recording of the band playing "Bathed in Dark Light" and "Radiation" on FM Moving Pictures, the legendary Calgary community cable TV show hosted by the equally legendary Mike Bezzeg. (Bezzeg later released Tau Ceti's records on his Small Horse, Big Apple label.) We know from keyword web traffic stats that a lot of people are jonesing for FM footage (and its follow-up, Chrome-A-Key Kids, hosted by Bezzeg and the late James Muretich)--anyone sitting on some dusty tapes? And can someone identify the fellow sitting with Bezzeg at the end of this clip? Barry remembers him doing sound for Tau Ceti on occassion ("nice guy") but can't remember his name.

UPDATE 10/19/2009 In the comments section, Klaus from Tau Ceti suggested the fellow with Mike Bezzeg is one Frank Lockwood. We tracked down Mr. Lockwood, who was a recording engineer-about-Calgary back in the day and now runs his own classical music recording service in Toronto, Lockwood ARS. He turned out to be a wealth of information about the Calgary scene, and very generous with his time:

"That is indeed me at the end of the clip," Frank confirms. "By the time I was involved, the show was called Chrome-a-key Kids, and I was the regular co-host. James Muretich would show up occasionally to do a review, but that became less frequent over time.

"My contribution to the show was to concentrate on jazz and classical music (whereas Bezzeg did more rock and pop music—usually of a more innovative nature). Since there were few videos made for jazz or classical music at that time, we would make what we called 'non-video videos' by gathering a bunch of suitable images from books or magazines to show while playing the music. Chrome-a-key ran from, if I'm remembering correctly, late 1984 into mid 1985. I had known Mike for years, but we only really became good friends when we starting working together at the Sam the Record Man store in TD Square—where we gained access to a lot of the music we played on air.

"As for Tau Ceti, Mike was very enthused about them, and also wanted to start a recording label. I had expressed a lot of interest in the recording process in general, so he asked me to act as Producer for the sessions that resulted in their first single. The recording took place at Richard Harrow's Living Room Studio (located in his house in south-east Calgary) in September 1985. I believe I may have performed some small bits of additional synthesizer stuff on one or both of the tunes in addition to coordinating the way the various tracks went down, and coaching the performances. Both Richard and I did the mixes.

"I recall that it was Mike's idea to provide a more interesting package and to save money by not having any printing done for the labels or covers for the 12 inch disks. Instead, we made each one a ‘custom production’ through the use of several rubber stamps and four different images to be pasted to the front covers. I can remember that it took a couple of weeks for just about everyone involved to carefully remove the disks from the covers, stamp the blank labels, stack them carefully so the ink could dry without smearing, while affixing one of the four paper images to the front of the covers and a single, text based sheet to the back. The initial run was of 1000 copies, pressed up through World Records (now World Reproduction), and sold through as many outlets as we could manage throughout Calgary, Edmonton and I think even a couple of places in Vancouver, in addition to sending out copies to campus radio stations across Canada.

"Producing that recording proved to be the beginning of what has subsequently become my career. I took the recording course offered by Sundae Sound Studio, then owned by Doug Wong, who now runs Canada Disk in offices about a block from the old Sundae location on, I think, 32nd Ave. NE just a block east of Centre St.

"Following the course, I had both the time and enthusiasm to continue at Sundae, acting as a freelance engineer, and gradually picking up more and more clients. Between 1985 and 1988, I did a large number of recordings—rock bands, a lot of country singers, spoken word productions, advertisments... Mike Bezzeg's next project was with a band called the Funeral Factory. For their full-length album, Mike took them into Living Room Studio and acted as Producer. One of the tunes was recorded after hours at the Sunridge Mall for the spacey, echoed ambiance. Two of the tunes were recorded by me at Sundae: ‘Shells’ and ‘Questions.’”

Frank also had a lot to say about a band named CosmaNat—and even shared their complete recorded output with us, so those are thoughts best left for their own entries.

Monday, 5 March 2012

We've always been a bit puzzled by this LP, which is more of an EP collection of prior recordings from Tau Ceti. Or why the cover art is so similar to their 7". Or why this came out the same year as their 7". We're puzzled by a lot, so we'll turn to the feature on the Calgary underground music scene from the January 1986 issue of Calgary magazine:

Tau Ceti
left to right: Barry Calnan, Dan Klauss, Alice Gauthier

Tau Ceti knows you can’t force anyone to think, and approaches its music with that in mind. The group’s front man, guitarist Dan Klauss, writes the lyrics he sings. Alice Gauthier sits on keyboard, alongside drummer Barry Calnan. Together 18 months, Tau Ceti recently released its first single, a love song entitled Radiation. The group’s members agree that there is no way to make a living in Calgary. For the most part, Tau Ceti is a dance band. They’ve made the natural progression from punk-rock cover band (covering material) to composing their own tunes. Upbeat and “pop” one moment, the trio can be dark and bizarre the next. The group takes its name from a Robert Heinlein novel. Tau Ceti is a distant solar system that desperate earthlings mistakenly travel to in search of refuge. By the time they get there, however, earth technology catches up to them in a very literal sense. An album should be ready for release this month. In a symbolic gesture, it will be entitledThe Miracle Will Pass: disappearing ink on the record jacket will render the band’s name invisible right before your stereophonic eyes.

Saturday, 3 March 2012

We're going to switch things up a bit, and focus on some new wave-influenced vinyl for a bit. What better place to start than Tau Ceti? This two-song was released on limited edition (900 numbered copies) 12" vinyl by Small Horse Big Apple (SMBA 12-001). The art was customized - the scan above is from Golden Rock's copy, ours here at the CCPS is different. We went on a fact-finding mission to Recordland, and discovered the following specimens:

It was tempting for us to grab a copy of each, but we held ourselves back. Here's the transcription of the back cover, thanks to Golden Rock:

produced by FRANK LOCKWOOD
engineer RICHARD HARROW
mixed by LOCKWOOD AND HARROW
executive producer MIKE BEZZEG
recorded at LIVING ROOM STUDIOS SEPTEMBER 1985
from the forthcoming album THE MIRACLE WILL PASS

Thursday, 1 March 2012

This is the classic Beyond Possession LP, released Metal Blade Records. We've always wondered why, three years later, the band split without recording anything else.

We'll point you over to We Will Bury You again for some great scans of the cover art, liner notes/lyric sheets and vinyl of this release. They mention that this was put out on tape as well - which we can't find any real evidence of. We'll also suggest - if you're feeling nostalgic - that you pop by the (soon to be archived?) Beyond Possession Facebook group, which has a few nice bits of ephemera.

THIS SIDENever Nothing New
Life Force
Dying Fast
Living To Tell You About It
Last Will And Testament
You're So Important
Final Daze
Why? It's Youth

Bands: D.R.I., Dr. Know, The Melvins, Power of the Spoken Word, Hirax, R.K.L., Verbal Abuse, The Offenders, Gang Green, Die Dreuzen, Tales of Terror (for the Toons), and al the bands who are true to what they believe.